St. Paul leaders look to Legislature to save its crumbling streets

St. Paul City Council members want to look beyond property taxes for the millions of dollars needed to salvage the city’s deteriorating street network -- a search that will include asking the state Legislature for more aid.

After a sobering public works report on the condition of the capital city’s 869 miles of city, county and state thoroughfares, council members said it’s time to make investments that will last beyond their tenure at City Hall.

“We should be planning for this year, but also five, 10 and 20 and 30 years out forward, and respecting the folks that will come after us,” said City Council President Amy Brendmoen.

According to the public works report, which Director Kathy Lantry and City Engineer Paul Kurtz presented to council members Wednesday morning, the city needs to spend about $50 million a year on street maintenance to meet recommended pavement quality standards. Without that investment, 35% of St. Paul’s arterial streets will be in failed condition and nearly 90% of residential streets will be in poor, very poor, serious or failed condition by 2039, the report said.

City spending on residential street maintenance has remained largely stagnant since the 1990s. The breaking point has come, in part, because of a lack of investment by previous city councils, said Council Member Jane Prince.

“I want to be really clear that this is kind of a legacy issue, about 12 years of administrations that chose not to raise the levy to take advantage of increased property values at a time when our economy was in really good shape,” Prince said. “It’s really clear that part of how we got here was based on policies of the city 20 years ago.”

Though city leaders are entering budget season -- Mayor Melvin Carter’s 2020 budget address is scheduled for Aug. 15 -- Lantry said the department isn’t using the report to make a budget request.

“What we want to get to through this report is talking about how do we really think about a sustainable, long-term funding source for streets that is higher than what we currently have,” she said.

Council members mentioned seeking money from the state, including local government aid.

“With this information, we have a story to tell the state Legislature,” Brendmoen said.

Greater state investment would benefit other Minnesota cities facing similar challenges, said Council Member Chris Tolbert.

“We need the state to act ... and really invest in our infrastructure that is crumbling,” Tolbert said, “not just in St. Paul but in Windom, in Ely and across the state.”

Emma Nelson • 612-673-4509

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